Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.

People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.

There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.

Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.

Politics is the art of the possible.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.

He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.